Legal Alert

Environmental & Natural Resources

Amendments to the CEQA Guidelines Now In Effect

The amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines described in our previous legal alert have been approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) and filed by the Secretary of State. The OAL approved the amendments on December 28, 2018, and the Secretary of State filed the Guidelines the same day. The amendments are now effective California Regulations.

Please note a correction to our previous legal alert from December 21, 2018. The new California Code of Regulations Section 15064.3(c) requires lead agencies to adopt the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) methodology for evaluating transportation impacts by July 1, 2020. The original text of our legal alert identified this deadline as January 1, 2020. While lead agencies are permitted to adopt the VMT criteria for analyzing transportation impacts prior to July 1, 2020, the new criteria will apply statewide beginning on that date.

Please consult an updated version of our previous legal alert for more information about the new amendments to the CEQA Guidelines.